| By Big Radio News Staff |
A massive soybean crushing facility may still rise on the edge of Evansville, but the project almost certainly will not break ground this year.
City of Evansville Administrator Jason Sergeant says soybean plant developer CHS Incorporated has said it likely will not start construction on the $700-million soybean crushing plant in 2025.
Sergeant says there is no mandate the project has to break ground this year, but a developer’s agreement requires a set amount work to be done on the project by summer of 2026.
Sergeant says last year, CHS cited hesitancy rolling forward with the project, pending the outcome of the Presidential election. But he says the city has gotten no indication CHS will walk away from Wisconsin’s first soybean crushing project.
The farming industry nationally remains edgy over President Trump’s tariffs, which farmers worry could impact the international soybean market and domestic construction costs.
This week, China announced it is suspending import of all CHS soybeans. It’s not clear what impact China’s announcement might have on CHS’s Evansville plans.
The plant is being considered at a time when the U.S. is growing and exporting a record amount of soybeans, yet prices for beans sit at record lows.
Sergeant says CHS is poised to spend $12 million on project engineering, and it has reimbursed the city for more than $120,000 in consulting costs so far.
Sergeant says the city’s spent years incrementally improving the land in question for some kind of major agribusiness development. He thinks the city is well positioned to develop the site — even should CHS’s soybean facility ultimately never get built there.
Sergeant says CHS gives the city a monthly update on its progress, and it presents the city council a public update every three months.
He says CHS is slated to give the city council an update later this month or in early April.
CHS tells Big Radio in an email the company is still working on plans for the Evansville facility, saying that a 70-million bushel soybean crushing plant is a complex project that will take significant time and consideration.
